וַתֵּ֥צֵא אֵ֛שׁ מִלִּפְנֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה וַתֹּ֣אכַל אוֹתָ֑ם וַיָּמֻ֖תוּ לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה׃
And there came forth fire from before the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
On Flight and Finding
[59] It is thus that the priests Nadab and Abihu die in order that they may live, receiving an incorruptible life in exchange for mortal existence, and being translated from the created to the uncreate. Over them a proclamation is uttered betokening immortality, “They died before the Lord” (Lev. 10:2), that is “They came to life,” for a corpse may not come into God’s presence. And again, “This is that which the Lord hath said, ‘I will be sanctified in them that draw nigh unto me’ ” (Lev. 10:3), “But dead men,” as we hear in the Psalms, “shall not praise the Lord” (Psalm 115:17): for that is the work of living men.
Who is the Heir of Divine Things
[309] Yet great thanks are due to Him who sowed these flickering sparks, to the end that the mind should not be chilled by passion like dead bodies, but, warmed and heated by the glowing coals of virtue, be quickened into flame, till it finds its full conversion into sacred fire, like Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:2).